Bacterial degradation of polyester polyurethane

An account is presented of work undertaken to investigate the ability of sixteen bacteria to degrade polyester polyurethane. The results of liquid shake culture experiments using a mineral salts medium, incorporating the polyurethane as the sole carbon source, indicated that none of the bacteria were able to degrade the polyurethane over a 12-week period. The addition of supplementary organic nutrients at a low level, achieved by the addition of 1 ml aliquots of overnight broth cultures of the bacteria to the shake cultures, was found to be sufficient to effect significant degradation in two isolates; a species of Corynebacterium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 13388) over a 12-week incubation period. The provision of higher levels of organic nutrients in the form of yeast extract (1% w/v) to the liquid shake cultures was found to effect significant degradation by a further five bacterial isolates. Results are presented which indicate that four bacterial isolates could degrade the polyester polyurethane within 2 weeks in the presence of yeast extract.